Some good, some bad. - Sightmark Core Shot Red Dot Sight

I own two of these sights, one that I purchased from Opticsplanet and one from another vendor. Sightmark claims they wanted to bridge the gap by creating a mid-sized reflex sight, one that fit in between full size and micro sights. IMO, they were successful. These are smaller than my Ultra Shot sights yet bigger than my Redfield Accelerator and Hi Lux Tac Dot sights. These Core Shots are really good looking sights, with a decent fit and finish. There is a very slight greenish tint from the lens coating but the FOV is very large, wide and unobstructed. The tint dissipates when shooting with both eyes open. The battery compartment is on top and easily accessible. The 5-moa dots (easy on my older eyes) on both of my Core Shots are very crisp and perfectly round. The sights have two brightness buttons, one that controls 6 NV settings and one that controls 6 daytime settings. I have been shooting in full sunlight on a bright, snow covered range in interior Alaska and haven't had to go above level 3 on the daylight settings. These brightness buttons provide audible, tactile clicks and adjust in measured increments. Mounted on a Mini 14 and an M&P 15-22, both sights zeroed well (more to follow). Also the mount is strong enough for standard applications. That's the good, now for the bad....

All windage and elevation corrections are bass ackwards on both sights. I thought maybe the one from Opticsplanet would work right, but no. This problem is with the factory and is just not an isolated problem. Adjust right according to the sight, and POI moves left. Adjust up according to the arrow, and the POI moves down. And vice versa. Also, the windage and elevation screws are not recessed into the sight. The problem with this is that the elevation screw is very loose and has very little resistance, and runs the risk of accidental movement, as compared to the windage screws which are tighter and provide barely audible clicks. Despite this bass awkwardness I managed to get both sights zeroed just fine. However, my first Core Shot (from the other vendor) is now on it's way back for an exchange due to a very small crack in the glass that fragments the dot. I'm not sure if it arrived that way and I didn't initially notice it, or if it happened at the range. Now the dot fragments into two halves every time it intersects this invisible crack that runs across the entire glass. This crack is only visible by holding the sight up against a light and viewing it against the dot. And last but not least, they don't come with a cover of any kind, plastic, neoprene or otherwise. Heck, even basic Ultra Shots come with a neoprene cover!

My second Core Shot is mounted on the M&P 15-22 plinker. It looks very good on that rifle and has performed well thru three range trips. This combo shoots honest 2" groups at 50 yards despite the 5 moa dot, and it has held zero. I put a very small square of black duck tape over the aforementioned loose windage screw to ensure that it won't move!

If you should decide to purchase this sight just understand that you may get a good one, or a bad one, in the Sightmark way! lol

P.S. If you must by a Sightmark, get yourself a Wolverine CSR or FSR. They are head and shoulders above any other red dot that Sightmark makes, IMO. Yes, you'll sacrifice FOV a bit but you'll get a ton of quality and features.